Tyke won do
by Ghostboy814
Summary: AU: Maddie becomes an instructor at the local karate studio. She starts teaching a beginner group, and two of her most promising students turn out to be young Sam and Val. But what happens when their parents forget to pick them up? Read on to find out!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

Jack and Maddie Fenton drove their RV through town on a call to investigate a supposedly haunted house. On the way, they passed by a local karate center. Maddie noticed a sign in the window that read: 'Help wanted-Karate instructors needed'. 

"Jack," she began, "I'm thinking of signing up to be the new karate instructor."

"Why would you want to do that, baby?" Jack asked, surprised. "Making new inventions takes up all of our time."

"I know, it's just that I think I might need to take on a second job to support Jazz and Danny."

"Honey, what we make right now is more than enough."

"It's enough for now, but what about when it's time for them to go to college? We'll need a bigger nest egg to support two college students."

"Maddie, Jazz is just starting second grade. We don't need to worry about college just yet."

"It's never too early," Maddie asserted. Then, a grin suddenly appeared on her features. "Besides, wouldn't you want the next generation of kids to be able to kick ghost butt in case there's ever a massive ghost invasion?"

"I never even thought about that! Yeah, we'll get you sighed up right away!" Jack yelled. Maddie smirked. The RV pulled up to 927 Maple Street, and the two of them hopped out.

* * *

The five-year-olds nervously clambered onto the big mat and fiddled with their brand-new white belts. Due to some primal instinct telling them that sticking in groups was conducive to survival, they stood in groups of three or four for protection. All except one-a little girl with raven hair and lilac eyes, who stood by herself. After a couple of minutes, though, a dark-skinned girl with teal eyes approached her.

"What's your name?" the dark-skinned girl asked.

"Sam," the raven-haired girl replied. "What about you?"

"I'm Valerie," was the reply. "Do you want to be friends?"

"Sure!" Before they could begin their conversation in earnest, though, the instructor stepped onto the mat. She was a tall woman with auburn hair and a black belt with a lot of stripes on it.

"Hi, kids!" the woman began. "My name's Maddie, and I'm going to be your instructor. I'm a ninth-degree blackbelt, which means I've been doing karate for a very long time."

"Hey, I've seen you before!" a blonde boy exclaimed. "You and that guy wearing orange were driving around in a really cool metal truck!"

"That's right," Maddie said. "My husband and I are also professional ghost hunters."

"Ghosts are scary," Valerie whined.

"They can be," Maddie replied, "and I'm here to show you how to defend yourselves from them. Everyone spread out and we'll start with a few basic moves."

The kids complied and the lesson began.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

"Punch!" Maddie shouted and the five-year-olds complied. 

"Again! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten!" They brought their hands down to their sides after the tenth punch.

"Kick!" Once again, they all did as she asked.

"You're all getting the hang of this really quickly!" Maddie exclaimed. "I've never seen anyone learn these moves so fast. Now we're going to spar. Does everyone have their equipment?" the children nodded and got out their plastic gloves, helmets, and mouth guards. Once they finished getting ready, they looked up at her expectantly.

"Okay, how about…" Maddie consulted her roster for a second. "Sam and Dash." Sam stepped into the center, along with the blonde boy from before. Dash's equipment was red and Sam's was black.

"First, both of you bow," Maddie instructed, and the two children did so. Then, they immediately rushed each other and began throwing punches and kicks at one another. Dash opened with a sidekick, but Sam blocked it and threw a punch. Dash ducked and tried to sweep his leg around. Sam jumped up and as soon as she landed, quickly let loose with a karate chop. This time she made contact, and conked Dash on the side of the head.

"Ow, that hurt!" Dash wailed, and began crying.

"Shh…it's okay," Maddie soothed as she walked over to the boy.

"I'm really sorry," Sam said softly as she watched Maddie comfort her opponent.

"It's okay, don't worry about it," Maddie replied as she led Dash away to sit down. "Next up-Valerie and Kwan!"

"Good luck," Sam said to Valerie as she approached the center.

"Thanks! And good one, with Dash."

"Thanks!" Valerie and Kwan each bowed, and it wasn't long before Kwan was sitting off to the side with Dash. Sam and Valerie high-fived and stood together with the rest of the group.

At the end of the lesson, all of the children changed into day clothes and the kids' parents came to pick them up. They all talked excitedly about their first karate lesson and described in excruciating detail what they had learned. Finally, only Sam and Valerie were left in the karate studio. Valerie was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a yellow T-shirt, and Sam had on a black skirt and a purple sweater.

"Sam? Valerie? Why haven't your parents come by to pick you up yet?" Maddie asked as she stepped out of the employee's changing room, now clad in a blue HAZMAT suit.

"My daddy's at a meeting," Valerie replied, a tone of boastfulness barely apparent in her voice. "He's an important man at Axiom Labs."

"And I think my mommy and daddy are in Europe or something," Sam said. Maddie put a hand to her forehead.

"I can't just leave you two here…" she paused for a minute and seemed to be deliberating something. Finally, she said, "I guess you could come home with me, but just for a couple of hours. Sam, is it okay if I drop you off at Valerie's house once her father comes home?" Sam nodded vigorously. Just then, the 'cool metal truck' Dash had spoken of earlier pulled up to the studio.

"That's our ride," Maddie said. She opened the door and held it for the two girls, and the three of them clambered into the RV.

"Girls, this is my husband, Jack," Maddie said as she introduced the large man in orange who was driving the RV. "Jack, these are Sam and Valerie. Their parents forgot to pick them up, so they'll be staying with us for a couple of hours until Valerie's father gets off work. They're my two best students." The two girls beamed at that last part.

"Great! Two more people I can blather on to about ghosts!" Jack exclaimed.

"No! Ghosts are scary!" Valerie protested.

"Don't worry; if there's a ghost around, I'll protect you. Me, Jack Fenton!" Sam giggled at his goofiness. Jack interpreted this as awe at his self-proclaimed ghost-hunting prowess, and puffed out his chest proudly. As he started up the RV and drove off, he started to talk about all of the really cool inventions that he'd made over the years that would help him and Maddie fight ghosts.

After about fifteen minutes, the girls gasped in awe. The RV had pulled up to a brick house on a street corner. But that wasn't what had awed them. The house had a huge neon sign sticking out of it that read 'FentonWorks' and had this big…big…_thing_ coming out of the top.

"Whoa…" they both said in unison.

"Welcome to FentonWorks, ghost hunting central!" Jack announced as he put the RV into 'Park' and unlocked the doors. The girls eagerly ran out of the RV and into the house, expecting the inside to be as cool as the outside. They were slightly disappointed when Maddie opened the door to reveal a normal-looking living room, staircase, and kitchen. They managed to get a peek at the basement, which appeared to be made of chrome, before Jack eagerly bounded downstairs and closed the door behind him. Both girls took off their shoes and put them neatly in the coat closet next to the door.

"So," Maddie began as she clapped her hands together. "Who wants cookies?" The two girls glanced at each other, grinned, then started jumping up and down and raising their hands as high as their little arms would extend. Maddie chuckled.

"I'll take that as a yes. Why don't you two make yourselves at home while I start baking?" She headed into the kitchen, and Sam and Valerie went into the living room and plopped down on the couch.

"Mr. Fenton is really funny," Sam began.

"Yeah, and Mrs. Fenton is so nice," Valerie replied.

Just then, a redheaded girl a couple of years older than them sat down on the couch and started reading something. Neither Sam nor Valerie knew how to read yet, so they couldn't tell what the book was. It looked really thick, though. The girl was so immersed in her book, she apparently didn't even notice Sam and Valerie sitting near her. The two younger girls smirked at each other as a plot silently formulated between them. They slid off the couch and snuck over to the older girl, who was lying on the couch so that her head was on the armrest and her feet were up on the seat. Sam stood to the side of the couch so that her head just barely made it over the armrest and Valerie clambered up the back of the couch so that she was just peeking over the top.

"Ready?" Sam mouthed.

"Sure!" Valerie mouthed back. "One, two, three, NOW!"

"HI!" Both girls shouted at the exact same time. The readhead jumped a good two feet in the air and when she landed, the book was sprawled over her face.

Sam thought she heard a chuckle and spun around to find its source. She thought she'd seen something move on the stairs, but before she could look more closely the Something had sped up the stairs in a flurry of black, red, and blue. Intrigued, she was about to investigate, but she'd forgotten one tiny, little problem. The redheaded girl.

"MOM!" The girl shrieked, and Sam and Valerie immediately clapped their hands over their ears. Maddie came running into the living room holding a silver-colored rod about a foot long.

"Where's the ghost?" She asked as she brandished the weapon around the room. She lowered the rod and it powered down with a mechanical whine when she realized that it was just her daughter overreacting to the presence of her students.

"What are these kids doing in our house?" the redhead demanded of her mother.

"Their names are Sam and Valerie, and they're two of my karate students," Maddie replied.

"But what are they doing _here_?"

"Their parents forgot to pick them up; they'll be staying here until Valerie's dad can come get them. Sam, Valerie, this is Jazz, my daughter." After the introductions were over, she returned to the kitchen to continue working on the cookies.

"Hey, Jazz," the younger girls mumbled, their gaze set on the ground.

"Sorry for scaring you," Valerie said softly.

"You should be," Jazz said with a huff, and marched across the room and up the stairs. Sam just barely caught her mumble, "Honestly, they're almost as bad as Danny," before she disappeared.

"I wonder who Danny is," She commented.

"Probably one of her friends," Valerie answered.

"If she gets mad that easily, she probably doesn't have too many friends," Sam said and the two girls giggled. They sat back down on the couch and talked about their first karate lesson for a bit, but then a delicious smell began emanating from the kitchen.

"The cookies are done!" Maddie called from the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

Sam and Valerie ran into the kitchen and sat at the round chrome table, where Maddie had just placed a tray of steaming hot chocolate-chip cookies. 

"Be careful," she warned. "These are still kind of hot, so you may want to wait a couple of minutes." Just then, Jazz came back downstairs. She'd obviously smelled the cookies from her room, and she came into the kitchen and sat at the table across from the two younger girls. She glared at them for a second, then turned her attention back to her book. They all sat silently for a couple of minutes, then Jazz experimentally reached out for a cookie. Upon feeling that they weren't too hot to handle, she took one and bit into it happily. Valerie and Sam noticed this, and each took a cookie of their own.

"Mmm, these are delicious!" Valerie exclaimed.

"Yeah, thank you, Mrs. Fenton!" Sam added. Maddie chuckled.

"You're very welcome, girls." They heard someone coming down the stairs, and Sam and Valerie turned in their seats to see who it was; Jazz had her nose back in her book.

A little boy about their age came into the kitchen. He had messy black hair and big blue eyes. He was wearing jean shorts and a white t-shirt that had a red silhouette of a rocket ship on the chest. He stared at Sam and Valerie, fear clearly apparent in his crystal-blue eyes, and kept his gaze on them as he sidled through the kitchen. Once he reached Maddie, he ran up to her and hugged her leg tightly. Maddie chuckled and lifted him into her arms.

"Don't be afraid, Danny. These my students, the ones I was talking about before." She turned her attention to the girls. "Sam, Valerie, this is my son, Danny. He's going to start kindergarten in a couple of weeks, just like you." She set Danny down in the chair next to Sam, and walked back over to the stove.

"Are you gonna hurt me?" he asked quietly.

"What? Why would we want to do that?" Valerie asked.

"'Cuz Mommy says you're the best out of all the people in her karate class."

"So? That doesn't mean we'd want to hurt you," Sam asserted.

"Really?" Both girls nodded. Danny's face cracked into a broad grin and his eyes sparkled. He took a cookie and ate it, and then immediately reached for a second one.

"We gotta eat these quickly, before-" but he was interrupted by the entire room shaking.

"What's going on?" Valerie asked nervously.

"I told ya," Danny said as the small earthquake intensified. All of a sudden, an orange blur ran up the stairs and rushed through the kitchen. It zoomed past the table, and when it had passed, the plate was devoid of cookies. The blur suddenly came to a halt and materialized into Jack, whose mouth was full.

"Mmm…" he moaned. "Chocolate chip…"

"Jack, those cookies were for the kids!" Maddie chastised as the doorbell rang. She sighed.

"I'll get it," she said as she left the kitchen. Sam and Valerie giggled at Jack's antics, while Jazz and Danny just groaned. They heard Maddie open the door, talk to someone, and close the door.

"Danny, Tucker's here!"

"YAY!" Danny exclaimed as he hopped down from his seat and ran to the front door. When he returned, he was walking with a dark-skinned boy wearing green cargo shorts, a yellow T-shirt, thick glasses, and a red beret. He was also carrying a red backpack. Danny had apparently given him the other cookie he'd taken, as he was now munching on it.

"Sam, Valerie, this is my friend, Tucker," Danny said. "Tucker, these are Sam and Valerie. They're in my mommy's karate class."

"'kay," Tucker said. "Hey, guess what I brought?"

"I dunno. What?"

"Guess!" Danny sighed.

"All right…a Gameboy?"

"Better!" Tucker exclaimed as he took off the backpack and held it out in front of him. "A Nintendo!" He withdrew the Nintendo 64 out of his backpack and held it up.

"Awesome! Can we play it?"

"Duh! I've only got one game, though. Super Smash bros."

"Cool! I'll ask my mommy if she'll plug it in." He left the room, Tucker not far behind. Sam and Valerie pushed away from the table and hopped off their chairs, and followed them. When the girls reached the living room, Maddie was bent over the TV and plugging the N64 into it. She stood up and rubbed her hands together.

"All done," she said. "Now, I really have to work on dinner, so…" she went back into the kitchen, and Tucker turned the N64 on.

"Can we play?" Valerie asked. Tucker snorted.

"Girls don't play video games," he scoffed.

"Oh yeah?" Sam asked menacingly.

"Yeah," Tucker asserted.

"I'll bet you we can beat you at this game. And if we win, you have to admit that girls are better at video games than boys."

"And _when_ we win, you have to say that boys are better at video games than girls," Tucker shot back.

"Fine." Sam and Valerie each plugged in a controller, and the four kids sat down to play.

"I'll be Fox, 'cuz he explores outer space and I wanna be an astronaut when I grow up," Danny said.

"I'll be Samus, 'cuz I really like her outfit," Valerie said.

"I'll be Pikachu, 'cuz…wait a second, Samus is a girl?" Tucker asked incredulously.

"Duh, didn't you know that?" Sam asked as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'll be Link, 'cuz he's really cool." They set up the game so that there were two teams, boys vs. girls, selected a board, and the game began.

"HA! Now, what were you saying?" Sam asked as she and Valerie danced triumphantly. Tucker mumbled something incoherent.

"What was that?" Valerie asked.

"Girls are better at video games than boys," Tucker muttered.

"Louder!" Both girls chorused.

"GIRLS ARE BETTER AT VIDEO GAMES THAN BOYS!" Tucker shouted. "Happy?" Sam and Valerie glanced at each other.

"Yep," they said in unison.

"Girls that are good at Nintendo…" Danny mused. "You've gotta be the coolest girls on the planet!" Sam and Valerie both blushed. Just then the doorbell rang, and Jazz bounded down the stairs.

"I'll get it!" She shrieked as she approached the door. She opened it to reveal a tall dark-skinned man wearing a dress shirt, slacks, and a red necktie.

"Hello," he said. "My name is Damon Grey, Valerie's dad. I was told by the karate studio that she'd be here. Is this the right place?"

"DADDY!" Valerie shouted as she ran up to her father and gave him a big hug.

"Hey, Val," Damon replied as he returned the hug with a slight chuckle. Maddie popped her head out of the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about, and caught sight of Damon.

"Oh, you're Valerie's father!" She exclaimed. Damon nodded in response. "Well, I was just about to tell everyone that dinner's ready. Why don't you join us? We've got more than enough."

"We don't want to be a burden…"

"It's not a burden! Seriously! I had prepared enough to accommodate Sam and Valerie in case they had to stay for dinner; we'll definitely be able to feed one more person. Besides, the more the merrier!" Damon thought about it for a second.

"Please, daddy?" Valerie pleaded. Damon smiled down at her.

"Okay. We'd be honored to stay for dinner."

"YES!" Valerie exclaimed as she punched the air exultantly. Damon removed his shoes as he, Valerie, Sam, Tucker, Danny, Jazz, and Jack entered the kitchen for dinner.

* * *

To those of you who've played Super Smash Bros., does Samus' costume remind you at all of Valerie's ghost hunting gear? 

And to those of you who are wondering why Danny started out really shy and suddenly became really open, I agree with you. That was kind of a fast change. I'd wanted to make it a little more gradual, but I couldn't really get it to fit in with the rest of the chapter. Let's just say that he came out of his shell when Tucker arrived because they're already good friends.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

"So, what exactly do you do, Mr. Grey?" Maddie asked as everyone sat down for dinner. 

"Please, call me Damon. I work for Axiom Labs, in the security division."

"That's great! Do you like it there?"

"Yeah, it's a really great job. It pays the bills, and I have set hours, so I'm able to take care of Valerie."

"What about Mrs. Grey?" Damon's gaze became downcast.

"She died…childbirth…" Jack and Maddie looked horrorstruck.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Maddie exclaimed.

"It's okay, but thank you." Nobody said anything for a bit, and Maddie took advantage of this to pass around a plate of lasagna.

"So…" Jack finally started, in an attempt to break the awkward silence. "How's the security at Axiom? Is it ghost-proof?" Damon was caught off-guard by the last statement, but tried to answer the beginning.

"Well, it could be better," he said. "I'm not one to criticize my own department or boss, it's just that…besides security guards, we mostly use a lot of guard dogs. I think that there's enough new technology available that we could design a state-of-the-art security system. My boss still likes having the dogs around, thinks that they give off an aura of security better than some computer, but I think that the guy above _him_ is starting to agree with me."

"Don't you like doggies?" Sam asked.

"I do," Damon replied. "Which is why I don't want to have them guarding Axiom. I never really put much thought into it before a few months ago, but now I'm standing much more firmly on this issue."

"Why, what happened a few months ago?" Jack asked.

"We had this puppy, a rottweiler, that we'd just bought from a breeder. It was the cutest dog any of us had ever seen; we loved watching him scamper around and play with his little pink chew toy. Unfortunately, the brass decided that having a cute puppy wasn't in the company's best interest. They forced us to take away his chew toy and use it to train him and make him a vicious guard dog. I still feel terrible about that…"

"People shouldn't do that to animals!" Sam asserted. Damon smiled softly.

"You're right. That's why I want to use technology to protect Axiom, not guard dogs."

"Yeah, technology rules!" Tucker added, and Damon chuckled.

Some time later, the adults were talking and the kids were starting to nod off. Jack got up and carried Jazz up to bed, and Maddie carried Danny. Tucker was sleeping over that night, so Jack carried him up to Danny's room. Damon carried Valerie into his car, and Maddie came back downstairs and brought Sam into his car as well.

"Are you sure you don't mind taking Sam home?" She asked. "Because we don't mind letting her spend the night."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Her parents are big stockholders of Axiom; I've met them at more than a few company functions. Besides, she won't be sleeping over. I know their address; I'll just drop her off at home. I'm sure her grandmother's been expecting her for some time now." Maddie looked at him, thunderstruck.

"Her grandmother lives at home? Why didn't she come to pick her up, then?" Damon shrugged.

"I guess she thought that Sam's parents were supposed to get her."

"But she wouldn't have gotten worried when Sam didn't come home for a few hours?"

"You know, I never really thought about it. I'll have a talk with her when I drop Sam off. So I'll see you on Wednesday, then?"

"Wednesday?"

"The next karate class." Maddie clapped a hand to her forehead.

"Of course. See you then!" Damon waved one last time before getting into his car and driving off. Maddie walked inside and tiredly plopped down on the couch.

"What an exhausting day," she muttered.

"Yeah, but look at all the new people we met!" Jack exclaimed as he landed on the couch next to her.

"That's true. Valerie's father seemed like a very nice man. I have my doubts about Sam's parents, though…"

"Yeah, we need to get them over here. Then we'll have," he paused to count on his fingers, "five people I can blather on to about ghosts!" Maddie sighed and shook her head, the barest trace of a smile tingeing her lips.

"Come on, we need to clean up the kitchen."

"Aw…" Jack pouted. "Can I at least have a cookie?"

"Oh no. You ate the ones that were supposed to be for the kids. No cookies for you for at least a couple of days."

"But Maddie…"

"No buts. Now get up to our room, mister, unless you want it to be a whole week!" Jack scowled at her and sullenly trudged upstairs.

* * *

More karate next chapter! Promise!  



	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

Maddie, already wearing her karate uniform, greeted all of the parents as they dropped their children off at the next lesson. 

"Hi, Mr. Baxter…nice to see you again, Mrs. Cho…Hey, Damon…I don't think I've seen you before?" She said as a redheaded woman wearing a fancy dress, diamond earrings, and a pearl necklace walked in. Sam came in just behind her.

"Mrs. Fenton, this is my mommy," she said as she hugged her mother's leg. Her mother shook her leg slightly to get the girl off.

"Samantha, this dress was expensive, let go," she whispered. She turned to Maddie and her voice instantly became cheery.

"Hi, I'm Pamela Manson. I'm guessing you're the karate instructor?"

"Yes, Maddie Fenton, pleased to meet you," Maddie replied as she shook the woman's hand.

"Listen," Pamela began, and her voice quickly dropped in volume. Maddie leaned forward in order to hear her, and they took on the appearance of conspirators. "Samantha is rather…_gentle_, so is it okay if she sits out for anything too intense?"

_This woman obviously doesn't know her own child…Sam is one of the toughest I've ever seen_, thought Maddie. But she didn't say any of this aloud. Instead she smiled and said, "Of course, of course."

"Thank you!" Pamela chirped, and she was out of the karate studio faster than you could say "hi-_yah!_" The other parents began drifting out as well, until only Damon remained.

"Not the greatest role model," he noted, and Maddie nodded.

"It's a wonder she even knows her daughter's name!" she exclaimed.

"Her and her husband are always out of town on business trips or vacations; they're hardly ever home," Damon explained. "That's one of the reasons Sam's grandmother lives with her; they don't want to entrust her to a butler or maid."

"Which reminds me, did you speak with her when you dropped Sam off?"

"Yeah, apparently she had fallen asleep and didn't realize that it was time to pick Sam up. I had woken her up by ringing the doorbell." Maddie looked at him dubiously. "Don't worry, I'm sure it won't happen again." He said farewell and left the studio. Maddie stepped onto the mat where the children were all waiting.

"All right, kids, let's start warming up by stretching." They did a few different stretches for about ten minutes. After that, they practiced some of the different types of punches, kicks, and blocks that they had learned on Monday.

"Now I'm going to set up an obstacle course," Maddie informed them. "I want all of you to go through the course five times" She hung a rope down from the ceiling and placed various mats everywhere. They were supposed to swing on the rope and land on a mat, then do a flying sidekick over the next mat and roll over a third one. The children all performed reasonably well, except for Dash, who had fallen when he tried to swing on the rope. After that, they practiced some more moves, then sat back as Maddie replaced the mats to make something new. For Sam and Valerie, this was the first time since Monday that they could talk amongst themselves.

"Oh my gosh, Danny is so cute!" Sam squealed.

"I know, he's adorable," Valerie cooed. "His sister is kind of mean, though."

"Yeah…" Sam said, then giggled. "It was funny when we scared her."

"Yeah," Valerie agreed. Just then, Maddie came out carrying a bunch of rectangular blocks about a foot and a half tall and two feet wide. At one end of the room she stacked a few blocks on top of one another, and at the other end of the room she lay them down and lined them up.

"We're going to have a flying sidekick contest!" she announced. "There are two events-horizontal and vertical. There are going to be two winners-one person who can go farther than anyone else, and one person who can go higher than anyone else." They spent about fifteen minutes on the horizontal section, and fifteen more on the vertical section. As was expected, Valerie jumped furthest, and Sam jumped highest.

"Great job, everyone!" Maddie exclaimed. "Are you all ready to spar?" They all shrank back, nervously. "What's wrong?" she asked, surprise.

"We don't wanna fight Sam and Val, they're too good," Dash whined. Maddie sighed.

"Fine, we'll have Sam go against Valerie. How does that sound?" Everyone except for Sam and Valerie cheered.

"We don't wanna fight each other," Valerie said.

"Yeah, we're best friends," Sam added.

"I know," Maddie replied with a sigh, "But nobody else wants to fight you." Just then, the RV pulled up and Jack ran in carrying Danny.

"I was going to test the Fenton Finder when Jazzy said that it would be too dangerous to have Danny around, you know how overprotective she can be, so is it okay if you watch him while I test it? Thanks, see you soon!" He said all this in one breath, dumped Danny into Maddie's arms, and ran back into the RV. Before Maddie could say, "ghost," he was gone. Maddie sighed and carried Danny over to the side of the mat where he could wait for the class to be over.

"He's so cute," Valerie said again. "I'm so glad I'm his girlfriend."

"Wait a second," Sam said, outraged. "I'm his girlfriend."

"No, I am!"

"I am!"

"You're what?" Maddie asked as she came back to the center of the mat.

"Nothing," the two girls chorused, then shot death glares at each other.

"How about whoever wins this fight gets to be Danny's girlfriend," Sam whispered.

"Fine," Valerie hissed back.

"Step into the center, kids," Maddie said. The two girls faced each other and bowed icily, and the fight began.


	6. Chapter 6

Okay, so this update was meant to be my birthday present to all of you (my birthday was this past Monday), but I didn't have it totally finished until Tuesday. Then, there was a problem with uploading documents, so I couldn't get it up until today. SORRY! But it's here now, right?

Alright, now I know what everyone is talking about in their updates when they say that the line-break-thingies aren't working right. This really TICKS ME OFF, but I guess I'll be able to live with it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPPDPDPDP

Punch. Block. Kick. Duck. Karate chop. Block again.

The intense blows were flying between the two girls as they competed for the affection of the same boy. They were evenly matched so far, so the majority of the attacks were parried. However, when they stopped to gulp in a few breaths of much-needed air, Sam sported a bruise just below her left eye and Valerie had a similar one forming on her right arm. They each glanced at Danny, who waved innocently, glared at each other once more, and dove back into their epic battle.

Sam failed to block a punch and got hit in the eye.

Valerie tried to duck one of Sam's kicks, but she didn't quite crouch down low enough so she was hit in the side of the mouth.

"Girls, GIRLS!" Maddie shouted. She forcefully pulled the two of them apart and held them at arm's length.

"What's the matter with you two?" She demanded. "You're best friends! No friends fight like that with each other unless they're fighting over something really important."

"I was watching them," Dash boasted. "I think they were fighting over this loser," he announced as he shoved Danny.

"HE'S NOT A LOSER!" Both Sam and Valerie screeched. They ran up to Dash; Sam punched him in the face and Valerie punched him in the stomach.

"Owie…" Dash mumbled as he sank to the ground. Maddie couldn't hold back a giggle. They were fighting over a _boy_. And not just any boy; her son.

"Girls, you're too young to be fighting over a boy," Maddie chastised. "Now apologize." Sam and Valerie reluctantly mumbled a muffled 'sorry'. By that time the class had ended and the parents began filing in. Maddie picked up all of the blocks from the flying sidekick contest as the children left to greet their parents. She had just finished closing the supply closet when she heard a bloodcurdling shriek.

"SAMMYKINS!"

Maddie spun around and rushed over to the parents to see what was wrong. She smirked at what she found. Sam's mother had taken one look at her daughter's face and immediately noticed the makings of a black eye. Before she could do anything else, though, the irate woman had turned on her.

"What happened here?" Pam Manson demanded in a murderous tone.

"Uh…they were sparring, and it got a bit intense…"

"A bit? I'll say!" Mr. Baxter exclaimed angrily. "Look at what happened to my son! I'm going to file a complaint about this, mark my words."

"Me too," Pam said. She turned tail and dragged Sam out of the karate studio, Mr. Baxter and Dash hot on her heels.

"Maybe this would be a good time to back down," Damon said delicately. Maddie looked down and noticed that his daughter's lip was swollen and starting to bleed. The rest of the parents were either giving her cold stares or shaking their heads sadly, and Maddie knew that he was probably right.

"Yeah…" she muttered. "I'll hand in my resignation tomorrow." The rest of the parents escorted their children out of the building, and Maddie sat down on the karate mat and put her head in her hands. Suddenly, she felt a pair of small arms hug her midsection.

"What's wrong, mommy?" Danny asked. Maddie smiled softly. She spun around and grabbed Danny, who giggled happily. Maddie rested her son on her lap.

"Nothing's wrong, sweetie. I just don't think I'll be able to teach karate anymore."

"Good." Danny announced. Maddie looked up at him, surprised.

"Why is that good?"

"'Cuz you're too good. If you teach people how to be as good at karate as you are, people like that kid with yellow hair are going to be even meaner to me." Maddie chuckled.

"That's true. Although I probably wouldn't teach him anyway after what he did to you."

"He deserved what Sammy and Valerie did to him. Will I ever be allowed to see them again?"

"Not for some time, Danny. At least not until their parents cool down."

"How long is that?"

"I'm not sure…"

"Aw…"

"Hey, don't worry about it! You'll still be able to play with Tucker, right?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Danny looked towards the ground and his messy black hair covered his eyes. Maddie kissed him on the top of his head.

"C'mon, sweetie. Let's go home."


End file.
